Ernesto Sirolli: Want to help someone? Shut up and listen!

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

Translator: David J. Kreps Finnemann Reviewer: Anders Finn Jørgensen

Everything I do, and everything I do professionally --

Alt jeg gør, og alt jeg gør professionelt --

my life -- has been shaped

mit liv -- er formet

by seven years of work as a young man in Africa.

af syv års arbejde som en ung mand i Afrika.

From 1971 to 1977 --

Fra 1971 til 1977 --

I look young, but I'm not — (Laughter) --

jeg ser ung ud, men jeg er ikke -- (Latter) --

I worked in Zambia, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Somalia,

Jeg arbejdede i Zambia, Kenya, Elfenbenskysten, Algeriet, Somalia,

in projects of technical cooperation with African countries.

i projekter med teknisk samarbejde med afrikanske lande.

I worked for an Italian NGO,

Jeg arbejdede for en italiensk NGO,

and every single project that we set up in Africa

og hvert eneste projekt som vi startede i Afrika

failed.

slog fejl.

And I was distraught.

Og jeg blev oprørt.

I thought, age 21, that we Italians were good people

Jeg tænkte, i en alder af 21, at vi italienere var gode mennesker

and we were doing good work in Africa.

og vi lavede et godt stykke arbejde i Afrika.

Instead, everything we touched we killed.

I stedet for, alt det vi rørte ved døde.

Our first project, the one that has inspired my first book,

Vores første projekt, det der inspirerede min første bog,

"Ripples from the Zambezi,"

"Ripples from the Zambezi,"

was a project where we Italians

var et projekt hvor vi italienere

decided to teach Zambian people how to grow food.

besluttede at undervise zambiere til at dyrke mad.

So we arrived there with Italian seeds in southern Zambia

Så vi ankom der med italienske frø i det sydlige Zambia

in this absolutely magnificent valley

i denne total pragtfulde dal

going down to the Zambezi River,

der lå ned mod Zambezi floden,

and we taught the local people how to grow Italian tomatoes

og vi lærte de lokale mennesker hvordan man dyrker italienske tomater

and zucchini and ...

og zucchini og …

And of course the local people had absolutely no interest

Og selvfølgelig havde de lokale mennesker overhovedet ingen interesse

in doing that, so we paid them to come and work,

i at gøre det, så vi betalte dem for at komme og arbejde,

and sometimes they would show up. (Laughter)

og nogle gange kom de også. (Latter)

And we were amazed that the local people,

Og vi blev overraskede over at de lokale,

in such a fertile valley, would not have any agriculture.

i sådan en frugtbar dal, ikke havde noget landbrug.

But instead of asking them how come they were not

Men i stedet for at spørge dem om grunden til de ikke

growing anything, we simply said, "Thank God we're here." (Laughter)

dyrkede noget, sagde vi, "Tak skæbne for at vi er her." (Latter)

"Just in the nick of time to save the Zambian people from starvation."

"Lige i tide til at redde det zambiske folk fra at dø af sult."

And of course, everything in Africa grew beautifully.

Og selvfølgelig, alt i Afrika voksede smukt.

We had these magnificent tomatoes. In Italy, a tomato

Vi havde disse fantastiske tomater. I Italien, ville en tomat

would grow to this size. In Zambia, to this size.

vokse til denne størrelse. I Zambia, til denne størrelse.

And we could not believe, and we were telling the Zambians,

Og vi kunne ikke tro, og vi fortalte zambiere,

"Look how easy agriculture is."

"Se hvor nemt landbrug er."

When the tomatoes were nice and ripe and red,

Når tomaterne var fine og modne og røde,

overnight, some 200 hippos came out from the river

hen over natten, kom der cirka 200 flodheste op af floden

and they ate everything. (Laughter)

og de spiste alt. (Latter)

And we said to the Zambians, "My God, the hippos!"

Og vi sagde til zambierne, "Tak skæbne, flodhestene!"

And the Zambians said, "Yes, that's why we have no agriculture here." (Laughter)

Og zambierne sagde, "Ja, det er derfor vi ikke har landbrug her." (Latter)

"Why didn't you tell us?""You never asked."

"Hvorfor sagde I ikke det?" "I spurgte aldrig."

I thought it was only us Italians blundering around Africa,

Jeg troede det kun var os italienere der lavede fejl i Afrika,

but then I saw what the Americans were doing,

men så så jeg det amerikanerne lavede,

what the English were doing, what the French were doing,

der englænderne lavede, det franskmændene lavede,

and after seeing what they were doing,

og efter at se hvad de gjorde,

I became quite proud of our project in Zambia.

blev jeg temmelig stolt over vores projekt i Zambia.

Because, you see, at least we fed the hippos.

Fordi, ser I, i det mindste fodrede vi flodhestene.

You should see the rubbish — (Applause) --

I skulle se det ragelse -- (Bifald) --

You should see the rubbish that we have bestowed

I skulle se det ragelse som vi har givet

on unsuspecting African people.

til intetanende afrikanere.

You want to read the book,

Vil man læse bogen,

read "Dead Aid," by Dambisa Moyo,

læs "Dead Aid," af Dambisa Moyo,

Zambian woman economist.

zambisk kvindelig økonom.

The book was published in 2009.

Bogen blev udgivet i 2009.Vi donorlande fra vesten har givet det afrikanske kontinent

We Western donor countries have given the African continent

Vi donorlande fra vesten har givet det afrikanske kontinent

two trillion American dollars in the last 50 years.

to billioner amerikanske dollars i løbet af de sidste 50 år.

I'm not going to tell you the damage that that money has done.

Jeg vil ikke fortælle jer om den skade som de penge har forvoldt.

Just go and read her book.

Bare læs hendes bog.

Read it from an African woman, the damage that we have done.

Læs det fra en afrikansk kvinde, om den skade vi har forvoldt.

We Western people are imperialist, colonialist missionaries,

Vi vesterlandske mennesker er imperialister, kolonialistiske missionærer,

and there are only two ways we deal with people:

og der er kun to måder vi håndterer folk på:

We either patronize them, or we are paternalistic.

Enten patroniserer vi dem, eller vi er paternalistiske overfor dem.

The two words come from the Latin root "pater,"

De to ord kommer fra den latinske rod "pater,"

which means "father."

hvilket betyder "fader."

But they mean two different things.

Men de betyder to forskellige ting.

Paternalistic, I treat anybody from a different culture

Paternalistisk, jeg behandler enhver fra en anden kultur

as if they were my children. "I love you so much."

som om de var mine børn. "Jeg elsker dig så højt."

Patronizing, I treat everybody from another culture

Patroniserende, jeg behandler enhver fra en anden kultur

as if they were my servants.

som om de var mine tjenere.

That's why the white people in Africa are called "bwana," boss.

Det er derfor hvide mennesker i Afrika kaldes "bwana," boss.

I was given a slap in the face reading a book,

Jeg fik et slag i ansigtet da jeg læste bogen,

"Small is Beautiful," written by Schumacher, who said,

"Small is Beautiful," skrevet af Schumacher, der sagde,

above all in economic development, if people

det vigtigste ved enhver økonomisk udvikling, hvis mennesker

do not wish to be helped, leave them alone.

ikke vil hjælpes, så lad dem være.

This should be the first principle of aid.

Dette bør være det første princip i bistand.

The first principle of aid is respect.

Det første princip i bistand er respekt.

This morning, the gentleman who opened this conference

Denne morgen, herren der åbnede denne konference

lay a stick on the floor, and said,

lagde en pind på gulvet, og sagde,

"Can we -- can you imagine a city

"Kan vi -- kan I forestille jeg en by

that is not neocolonial?"

der ikke er neokolonial"?

I decided when I was 27 years old

Jeg besluttede da jeg var 27 år gammel

to only respond to people,

kun at reagere på mennesker,

and I invented a system called Enterprise Facilitation,

og jeg opfandt et system der hedder Enterprise Facilitation,

where you never initiate anything,

hvor man aldrig påbegynder noget,

you never motivate anybody, but you become a servant

man motiverer aldrig nogen, men man bliver en tjener

of the local passion, the servant of local people

af den lokale passion, tjeneren af det lokale folk

who have a dream to become a better person.

der har en drøm om at blive et bedre menneske.

So what you do -- you shut up.

Så hvad gør man -- man tier stille.

You never arrive in a community with any ideas,

Man kommer aldrig til et samfund med nogen ideer,

and you sit with the local people.

og man sætter sig med de lokale mennesker.

We don't work from offices.

Vi arbejder ikke fra kontorer.

We meet at the cafe. We meet at the pub.

Vi mødes på en cafe. Vi mødes på en pub.

We have zero infrastructure.

Vi har ingen infrastruktur.

And what we do, we become friends,

Og det vi gør, vi bliver venner,

and we find out what that person wants to do.

og vi finder ud af hvad den person vil gøre.

The most important thing is passion.

Den vigtigste ting er passion.

You can give somebody an idea.

Man kan give nogen en ide.

If that person doesn't want to do it,

Hvis personen ikke vil gøre det,

what are you going to do?

hvad gør man så?

The passion that the person has for her own growth

Den passion som personen har for sin egen vækst

is the most important thing.

er det vigtigste.

The passion that that man has for his own personal growth

Den passion som man har for sin egen personlige vækst

is the most important thing.

er den vigtigste ting.

And then we help them to go and find the knowledge,

Og så hjælper vi dem med at gå ud og finde den viden,

because nobody in the world can succeed alone.

fordi ingen i verden kan slå igennem selv.

The person with the idea may not have the knowledge,

Den person med ideen har måske ikke viden,

but the knowledge is available.

men viden er tilgængelig.

So years and years ago, I had this idea:

Så for flere år siden fik jeg denne ide:

Why don't we, for once, instead of arriving in the community

Hvorfor, for en gangs skyld, i stedet for at ankomme i samfundet

to tell people what to do, why don't, for once,

for at fortælle mennesker hvad de skal gøre, hvorfor, for en gangs skyld,

listen to them? But not in community meetings.

lytter vi ikke til dem? Men ikke i til møder i samfundet.

Let me tell you a secret.

Lad mig fortælle jer en hemmelighed.

There is a problem with community meetings.

Der er et problem med møder i samfundet.

Entrepreneurs never come,

Entreprenørerne kommer aldrig,

and they never tell you, in a public meeting,

og de fortæller aldrig en, til et offentligt møde,

what they want to do with their own money,

hvad de vil lave med deres egne penge,

what opportunity they have identified.

hvilke muligheder de har identificeret.

So planning has this blind spot.

Så planlæggelse har sine blinde vinkler.

The smartest people in your community you don't even know,

De smarteste mennesker i ens samfund kender man ikke engang,

because they don't come to your public meetings.

fordi de kommer ikke til ens offentlige møder.

What we do, we work one-on-one,

Det vi gør, vi arbejder en og en,

and to work one-on-one, you have to create

og for at arbejde en og en, skal man skabe

a social infrastructure that doesn't exist.

en social infrastruktur der ikke eksisterer.

You have to create a new profession.

Man skal skabe en ny profession.

The profession is the family doctor of enterprise,

Professionen er familielægen af entreprenørskab,

the family doctor of business, who sits with you

familie lægen i business, der sidder med en

in your house, at your kitchen table, at the cafe,

i ens hus, ved ens køkkenbord, i cafeen,

and helps you find the resources to transform your passion

og hjælper en med at finde ressourcer til at transformere ens passion

into a way to make a living.

til en måde at tjene penge på.

I started this as a tryout in Esperance, in Western Australia.

Jeg begyndte dette som et forsøg i Esperance, i det vestlige Australien.

I was a doing a Ph.D. at the time,

Jeg lavede en Ph.D. på det tidspunkt,

trying to go away from this patronizing bullshit

og prøvede at gå væk fra dette nedladende vrøvl

that we arrive and tell you what to do.

hvor vi ankommer og fortæller en hvad man skal gøre.

And so what I did in Esperance that first year

Så det jeg gjorde i Esperance det første år

was to just walk the streets, and in three days

var bare at gå rundt på gaden, og efter tre dage

I had my first client, and I helped this first guy

Havde jeg min første klient, og jeg hjalp den første fyr

who was smoking fish from a garage, was a Maori guy,

der røgede fisk i en garage, det var en Maori,

and I helped him to sell to the restaurant in Perth,

og jeg hjalp ham med at sælge til en restaurant i Perth,

to get organized, and then the fishermen came to me to say,

for at blive organiseret, og så kom fiskerne til mig og sagde,

"You the guy who helped Maori? Can you help us?"

"Er du fyren der hjalp Maori? Kan du hjælpe os?"

And I helped these five fishermen to work together

Og jeg hjalp disse fem fiskere med at arbejde sammen

and get this beautiful tuna not to the cannery in Albany

og få denne smukke tun, ikke til konservesfabrikken i Albany

for 60 cents a kilo, but we found a way

til 60 cents per kilo, men vi fandt en måde

to take the fish for sushi to Japan for 15 dollars a kilo,

til at bruge fisken til sushi i Japan for 15 dollars per kilo,

and the farmers came to talk to me, said,

og landmændene kom til mig og sagde,

"Hey, you helped them. Can you help us?"

"Hey, du hjalp dem. Kan du hjælpe os?"

In a year, I had 27 projects going on,

På et år, havde jeg gang i 27 projekter,

and the government came to see me to say,

og regeringen kom til mig for at sige,

"How can you do that?

"Hvordan kan du gøre det?

How can you do — ?" And I said, "I do something very, very, very difficult.

Hvordan kan du gøre --?" Og jeg sagde, "Jeg gør noget meget, meget, meget svært.

I shut up, and listen to them." (Laughter)

Jeg tier stille og lytter til dem." (Latter)

So — (Applause) —

Så -- (Bifald) --

So the government says, "Do it again." (Laughter)

Så regeringen siger, "Gør det igen." (Latter)

We've done it in 300 communities around the world.

Vi har gjort det i 300 samfund i hele verden.

We have helped to start 40,000 businesses.

Vi har hjulpet med at starte 40.000 virksomheder.

There is a new generation of entrepreneurs

Der er en ny generation af entreprenører

who are dying of solitude.

der dør af ensomheden.

Peter Drucker, one of the greatest management consultants in history,

Peter Drucker, en af de største managementkonsulenter i historien,

died age 96, a few years ago.

døde i en alder af 96, for et par år siden.

Peter Drucker was a professor of philosophy

Peter Drucker var filosofiprofessor

before becoming involved in business,

inden han blev involveret i forretning,

and this is what Peter Drucker says:

og dette er hvad Peter Drucker siger:

"Planning is actually incompatible

"At planlægge er faktisk uforeneligt

with an entrepreneurial society and economy."

med et foretagsomt samfund og økonomi."

Planning is the kiss of death of entrepreneurship.

At planlægge er dødsstødet for entreprenører.

So now you're rebuilding Christchurch

Så nu genopbygger man Christchurch

without knowing what the smartest people in Christchurch

uden at vide hvad de smarteste mennesker i Christchurch

want to do with their own money and their own energy.

vil gøre med deres egne penge og deres egen energi.

You have to learn how to get these people

Man skal lære at få disse mennesker

to come and talk to you.

til at komme og tale med en.

You have to offer them confidentiality, privacy,

Man skal tilbyde dem fortrolighed, privatliv,

you have to be fantastic at helping them,

man skal være fantastisk til at hjælpe dem,

and then they will come, and they will come in droves.

og så kommer de, og de vil komme i masser.

In a community of 10,000 people, we get 200 clients.

I et samfund med 10.000 indbyggere, får vi 200 kunder.

Can you imagine a community of 400,000 people,

Kan I forestille jer et samfund med 400.000 mennesker,

the intelligence and the passion?

den intelligens og den passion?

Which presentation have you applauded the most this morning?

Hvilken præsentation har I klappet mest af her til morgen?

Local, passionate people. That's who you have applauded.

Lokale, passionerede mennesker. Det er dem I har klappet af.

So what I'm saying is that

Så det jeg siger er at

entrepreneurship is where it's at.

iværksætteri er der hvor det sker.

We are at the end of the first industrial revolution --

Vi er slutningen af den første industrielle revolution --

nonrenewable fossil fuels, manufacturing --

ikke vedvarende fossile brændstoffer, fremstilling --

and all of a sudden, we have systems which are not sustainable.

og pludselig, har vi systemer der ikke er bæredygtige.

The internal combustion engine is not sustainable.

Eksplosionsmotoren er ikke bæredygtig.

Freon way of maintaining things is not sustainable.

Freon måden at vedligeholde ting på er ikke bæredygtig.

What we have to look at is at how we

Det vi skal kigge på nu er hvordan vi

feed, cure, educate, transport, communicate

fodrer, kurerer, transporterer, kommunikerer

for seven billion people in a sustainable way.

for syv milliarder mennesker på en bæredygtig måde.

The technologies do not exist to do that.

Teknologierne eksisterer ikke til at gøre det.

Who is going to invent the technology

Hvem kommer til at opfinde den teknologi

for the green revolution? Universities? Forget about it!

for den grønne revolution? Universiteter? Glem det!

Government? Forget about it!

Regeringen? Glem det!

It will be entrepreneurs, and they're doing it now.

Det vil være entreprenører, og de gør det nu.

There's a lovely story that I read in a futurist magazine

Der er en dejlig historie som jeg læste i et futuristisk magasin

many, many years ago.

for mange, mange år siden.

There was a group of experts who were invited

Der var en gruppe eksperter der blev inviteret

to discuss the future of the city of New York in 1860.

til at diskutere fremtiden for byen New York i 1860.

And in 1860, this group of people came together,

Og i 1860, samledes denne gruppe mennesker,

and they all speculated about what would happen

og de spekulerede alle på hvad der ville ske

to the city of New York in 100 years,

for byen New York i 100 år,

and the conclusion was unanimous:

og konklusionen var entydig:

The city of New York would not exist in 100 years.

Byen New York ville ikke eksistere om 100 år.

Why? Because they looked at the curve and said,

Hvorfor? Fordi de kiggede på kurven og sagde,

if the population keeps growing at this rate,

hvis befolkningen bliver ved med at vokse i samme takt,

to move the population of New York around,

for at flytte New Yorks befolkning rundt,

they would have needed six million horses,

ville de have brug for seks millioner heste,

and the manure created by six million horses

og gødningen der ville blive skabt af seks millioner heste

would be impossible to deal with.

ville være umulig at håndtere.

They were already drowning in manure. (Laughter)

De druknede allerede i gødning. (Latter)

So 1860, they are seeing this dirty technology

Så 1860, de ser denne beskidte teknologi

that is going to choke the life out of New York.

der kommer til at kvæle livet i New York.

So what happens? In 40 years' time, in the year 1900,

Så hvad sker der? Om cirka 40 år, i året 1900,

in the United States of America, there were 1,001

i Amerikas Forende Stater, var der 1.001

car manufacturing companies -- 1,001.

bilfabrikanter -- 1.001.

The idea of finding a different technology

Ideen om at finde en anden teknologi

had absolutely taken over,

havde overtaget fuldstændig,

and there were tiny, tiny little factories in backwaters.

og der var bitte, bittesmå fabrikker i udkantsområder.

Dearborn, Michigan. Henry Ford.

Dearborn, Michigan. Henry Ford.

However, there is a secret to work with entrepreneurs.

Der er, dog, en hemmelighed i at arbejde med entreprenører.

First, you have to offer them confidentiality.

Først, skal man tilbyde dem fortrolighed.

Otherwise they don't come and talk to you.

Ellers kommer de ikke og taler med en.

Then you have to offer them absolute, dedicated,

Så skal man tilbyde dem total, dedikeret,

passionate service to them.

passioneret service.

And then you have to tell them the truth about entrepreneurship.

Og man skal fortælle dem sandheden om iværksætteri.

The smallest company, the biggest company,

Det mindste firma, det største firma,

has to be capable of doing three things beautifully:

skal være i stand til at gøre tre ting på en smuk måde:

The product that you want to sell has to be fantastic,

Det produkt man vil sælge skal være fantastisk,

you have to have fantastic marketing,

man skal have fantastisk marketing,

and you have to have tremendous financial management.

og man skal have en utrolig økonomisk håndtering.

Guess what?

Gæt engang?

We have never met a single human being

Vi har aldrig mødt et eneste menneske

in the world who can make it, sell it and look after the money.

i verden der kan lave det, sælge det og passe på pengene.

It doesn't exist.

Det findes ikke.

This person has never been born.

Den person er aldrig født.

We've done the research, and we have looked

Vi har forsket i det, og vi har kigget

at the 100 iconic companies of the world --

på verdens 100 mest ikoniske virksomheder --

Carnegie, Westinghouse, Edison, Ford,

Carnegie, Westinghouse, Edison, Ford,

all the new companies, Google, Yahoo.

alle de nye virksomheder, Google, Yahoo.

There's only one thing that all the successful companies

Der er kun en ting som alle de succesfulde virksomheder

in the world have in common, only one:

i verden har til fælles, kun en:

None were started by one person.

Ingen af dem blev startet af en enkelt person.

Now we teach entrepreneurship to 16-year-olds

Nu lærer vi iværksætteri til 16-årige

in Northumberland, and we start the class

i Northumberland, og vi startede undervisningen

by giving them the first two pages of Richard Branson's autobiography,

med at give dem de første to sider af Richard Bransons selvbiografi.

and the task of the 16-year-olds is to underline,

og opgaven for den 16-årige er at understrege,

in the first two pages of Richard Branson's autobiography

i de første to sider af Richard Bransons selvbiografi

how many times Richard uses the word "I"

hvor mange gange Richard bruger ordet "jeg"

and how many times he uses the word "we."

og hvor mange gange han bruger ordet "vi."

Never the word "I," and the word "we" 32 times.

Aldrig ordet "jeg," og ordet "os" 32 gange.

He wasn't alone when he started.

Han var ikke alene da han startede.

Nobody started a company alone. No one.

Ingen har startet en virksomhed selv. Ingen.

So we can create the community

Så vi kan skabe det samfund

where we have facilitators who come from a small business background

hvor vi har katalysatorer der kommer fra en lille virksomheds baggrund

sitting in cafes, in bars, and your dedicated buddies

og sidde i cafeer, i barer, og ens dedikerede kammerater

who will do to you, what somebody did for this gentleman

der vil gøre det for en, det som nogen gjorde for denne herre

who talks about this epic,

der taler om denne epos,

somebody who will say to you, "What do you need?

nogen der vil sige til en, "Hvad har du brug for?

What can you do? Can you make it?

Hvad kan du gøre? Kan du lave det?

Okay, can you sell it? Can you look after the money?"

Okay, kan du sælge det? Kan du passe på pengene?"

"Oh, no, I cannot do this.""Would you like me to find you somebody?"

"Åh nej, dette kan jeg ikke gøre." "Vil du gerne have at jeg finder en til dig?"

We activate communities.

Vi aktiverer samfundene.

We have groups of volunteers supporting the Enterprise Facilitator

Vi har grupper af frivillige der understøtter Enterprise Facilitatoren

to help you to find resources and people

til at hjælpe en med at finde ressourcerne og menneskene

and we have discovered that the miracle

og vi har opdaget at miraklet

of the intelligence of local people is such

om intelligens i lokale mennesker er sådan

that you can change the culture and the economy

at man kan ændre kulturen og økonomien

of this community just by capturing the passion,

i dette samfund, bare ved at fange passionen,

the energy and imagination of your own people.

energien og fantasien af ens egne mennesker.

Thank you. (Applause)

Tak. (Bifald)